


Above The Dirty Streets And Black Roofs

by acommontater



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Sozin's Comet Returns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:20:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28543227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acommontater/pseuds/acommontater
Summary: Korra is not yet fifty when the comet returns.(or, legacy, what is a legacy?)
Relationships: Korra & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 87





	Above The Dirty Streets And Black Roofs

**Author's Note:**

> Me: I would like to work on this fic *points*  
> My brains: Haha, no, we're going to work on this concept that no one asked for whatsoever  
> Me: alrighty then!
> 
> Title is from (naturally) Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, the titular song.

The day creeps up on them almost quietly. If it weren’t for all the preparations for various remembrances, mournings, celebrations, ceremonies, and other events planned Korra wouldn’t have even known it was coming up. She has other concerns at the moment, until a letter from the Fire Nation with the royal seal arrives requesting her presence for the day. Fire Lord Izumi writes formally, with carefully cultivated language that had taken Korra decades to be able to interpret.

She responds that she can be there for the afternoon, after she leaves the Air Temple.

The sky turns an eerie red color even before the sun rises over the horizon. It makes Korra shudder as she walks down the halls of the Southern Air Temple. She joins Tenzin where he stands looking out over the mountains. The red light washes out his grey beard and she waits quietly as he stares at the sky. His hands are clenched into fists on the rail he leans on.

“My aunt always insisted that it was beautiful to see.” He says eventually, voice quiet. “She found it hard to find the words to describe it properly, just that it was awe inspiring and made the ocean look like it was burning at they traveled through it.”

Korra leans on the rail beside him.

“It is kind of beautiful, in its own way.” She comments.

“The last time it’s light touched this place, it was empty and desolate. The time before that…”

Korra reaches out and rests her hand on top of Tenzin’s as his voice trails off. Her mentor rallies himself after a moment.

“But now the temple is full of life again, full of airbenders. We will take time today to grieve, and to celebrate.” He says determinedly.

Korra squeezes his hand before letting it go. He smiles at her. Korra gestures dramatically towards the stairs leading back to the main communal rooms. Tenzin bites back a laugh when he clearly recognizes her mimicry of an Earth Nation official they’d been forced to deal with many times over the years.

“Shall we?” Korra asks. Tenzin nods.

They move away from the edge of the balcony and join the rest of the people at the temple for breakfast.

/

She arrives on the requested island in the Fire Nation in the afternoon. A young attendant comes to greet her with a bow.

“Avatar Korra, this way please.”

She follows them through the house, until they come to a garden. The attendant bows again and vanishes back into the house. Korra crosses the open area and sits down next to where an elderly man kneels, his hands covered in earth. It takes him a few moments to realize she’s there.

“Korra!” He sits up a little with a groan. “I’m glad that you’ve made it. I have some gloves and a dibber stick for you there.” He gestures over to the side of the garden bed. Korra finds them and gathers her equipment.

“How have you been, Lord Zuko?” She asks, tugging on her gloves. He shrugs.

“I am old and retired, so I am enjoying the peace and the visits from my family when they can. Here, even rows, space them three fingers apart.”

He tips a handful of seeds into her palm. Korra takes them carefully.

Lord Zuko gestures to an empty area of dirt and Korra starts planting her seeds. The hours pass quietly.

The hot, eerie light beats down on them and Korra can feel the sweat bead on the back of her neck. The rich soil gives easily under her hands. The energy of her firebending zings through her body in response to the comet passing over head. Her blood sings with power in a way she normally only feels when she’s in the Avatar state. It’s a heady feeling.

Korra accepts it and doesn’t use it. She knows how the power given on this day was used previously and she has no desire to wield it, even if this _wasn’t_ a sacred day where there was no firebending permitted until the new day dawned.

The old man across from her is still someone who looms intimidatingly large in legacy and renown, if not physically anymore, wizened and stooped at 116 years old. Lord Zuko still retains a bit of mythical awe around him, even though they’ve been friends for decades now. She’s met and befriended many people who are renowned around the world, but it wasn’t the same as being half raised by them like with Katara. Maybe it’s the dragon. The white hair not held out of his face by his topknot is braided back in a pattern that Korra recognizes from growing up.

“Did Katara teach you that?” Korra gestures to her own hair when Lord Zuko looks up at her quizzically. He reaches up and touches one of the braids, leaving a smudge of dark volcanic earth behind. He smiles fondly and returns to his sowing.

“She did. She was one of the few people allowed to touch my hair during my reign. Scandalized a fair few advisors in our time.” He chuckles, then sighs, looking out into the distance with a melancholy smile.

(Korra remembers learning about the importance of hairstyles in the Fire Nation, both in her international political studies and from what Asami has told her. Why she had blushed when she’d put her own hairpins in Korra’s hair the times she’d done it. To touch someone’s hair, especially at the crown of the head where the traditional topknots were worn, was something reserved for a spouse or family. Intimate and sacred.)

“You two were really close, huh?” Korra says sympathetically.

Lord Zuko smiles at her softly. His hands don’t stop their slow, practiced motion. Poke, drop, cover.

“She was a sister to me and one the dearest people in my life. I miss her every day, as I do so many now.”

Korra swallows the slight lump in her throat and looks down at the dirt.

(She’d been in the South Pole years ago when her waterbending master had passed. Jinora had insisted on being in the South Pole with her grandmother for the birth of each of her children, and her third child was no exception even with her duties at the Eastern Air Temple. Korra was supposed to be there in passing on a visit to her parents. News of the new baby had spread quickly, and she’d hurried down to congratulate her friend. Katara had been there as well, smiling proudly over the newest addition to her family.

“You’re third great-grandchild, wow.” Korra told her. Katara had laughed.

“Goodness, I _am_ getting old.”

She’d hugged Korra tightly that evening before parting ways.

The next morning a drawn looking Kai had knocked on her door and Korra had simply known.)

She looks up at the strange, bloody sky.

“What was it like, last time?”

Lord Zuko follows her gaze. Korra can see him looking up and considering her question. At his age, Lord Zuko is one of the few living people left who both participated in and remember the war, as well as the last member of the now nearly legendary group who had led the end of the war. (Master Katara had always scoffed at the people who treated her with idolized reverence. “Everyone was just doing what we felt was right.” She’d grumble. But she’d always done so with a pleased smile on her face. Korra knew that she was a great waterbender, but even now she knew that she still wasn’t close to the skill that her old sifu had held over their mutual element. Toph had merely rolled her eyes over the excitement when she’d deigned to make a public appearance. “I was a legend before I ever met Twinkletoes and company.” She’d sniffed.)

“Terrifying.” He says, finally. “We had all gone our separate ways, for all we knew Aang was dead, and if any of us failed in our tasks the world as we knew it would be over and we would be dead. A stressful day to be sure. But it ended well enough at least. Here, help an old man up.”

He holds out a hand and Korra sets her gloves and seeds aside to help him up with a groan. Lord Zuko gestures for her to follow and they sit under a broad tree with small cups of tea boiled over a candle lit with sparkrocks. Lord Zuko pats the bark of the tree fondly before picking up his cup.

“Aang planted this tree with me.” He says calmly, taking a sip of tea. “This is what I do every year on this day.”

“You plant seeds?” Korra subtly cools the hot cup in her hands a little before sipping the light flavored tea.

He nods.

“It is not the same, but I hope that someday I will have planted at least a fraction as many seeds as lives taken by my nation during the war. In some small way I can give life back to the earth.”

Korra gives him a considering look.

“That’s… a big thing to take on as a personal responsibility.” She comments.

Lord Zuko squints at her and Korra keeps her expression as neutral as she can. He lets out a short laugh.

“I lost count of how many times Aang and I argued about that.” He says, as his laughter peters out. “And I will tell you the same as I told him- I am a part of the royal family, descended from the clan that united the Fire Nation. But I still chose to take the crown, fought and won the right to the throne. Which means that I accepted all the responsibility and history that goes along with it. It was my choice and my destiny to shoulder the doings of my people and to right the wrongs therein as I see fit.”

Korra looks up at the broad leaves above them.

“The tree was grown from a cutting taken by Aang from the Southern Air Temple orchards. There are plants from each of the temples here.” Lord Zuko continues. “We planted this one after formalizing the accords for reparations to the Air Nomads, as a reminder to ourselves of the work we had to do.”

“Is it a fruit tree?” Korra squints at it. She’s never been good at plant identification. Lord Zuko shakes his head.

“No. Traditionally it’s wood was used to create saddles for skybison and glider staffs.” He reaches out and points to some fluffy white flowers in a nearby bed. “Those came from the Western Air Temple. The pigment in the leaves and stems is used to create the ink for an airbending master’s tattoos.”

He guides Korra through the garden from where they sit, pointing to the different plants from various nations and why they were collected. A white jade bush with beautiful flowers, clumps of leaves that he says are Fire Lilies for a few weeks a year, a small plum tree, berry bushes from the middle of the Earth Kingdom, a pond specially kept in order to cultivate seaweeds from the South Pole, on and on. Korra is impressed.

“Wow, I didn’t realize you had such an interest in gardening, Lord Zuko.” She says, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. He sits back as well, a small, contented smile on his face.

“I didn’t, not for a long time. Mostly due to not having much time to myself. But there is a simple honor in working with the earth and elements to help something grow.” The corner of his mouth twitches with some private joke. “It takes all the elements to help a seed sprout- the earth to be rooted in, water for food, warmth from the sun, and air to breathe. Just like in the world, if any of these are out of balance, there is no growth.”

Korra chuckles.

“That sounds a lot like Avatar stuff.” She says. Lord Zuko nods.

“It is wisdom that can be helpful to anyone, Avatar or no. I cannot take credit for it; I learned it from some great teachers and it ended up saving my life more than once.” He says.

Korra feels the heat in her palms.

“What’s it like to firebend with this power?” She asks.

“You can go ahead and try.” He says. Korra squints at him. He shrugs. “I won’t tell if you won’t. It’s not like you’re getting into an Agni Kai or anything and we aren’t in public. The Fire Sages can’t really argue with the Avatar anyway.”

Korra sits up and takes a breath before conjuring a palmful of flames.

The usual comforting fire the size of a lamplight roars to life, easily three times the size of usual. Korra gasps at the exhilaration as the energy she’d been so focused on tamping down all day rushes through her. It feels similar to when she’d first touched the spirit portals, crackling along her veins. It’s a giddy feeling to feel such power, so different from usual, held in the palm of her hands.

With another deep breath, Korra closes her hand and extinguishes the flame.

“Wow.” She says breathlessly. Lord Zuko nods.

“It made me understand to some degree why some members of my family felt like their power was unstoppable and righteous. In a kind of way it was a mixed blessing that I had both friends to ground me and an awful task to keep my head clear last time.” He says with a twisted smile.

“I can’t even imagine.” Korra says, still staring at her hand.

She thinks of trying to face an army and one of the most powerful firebenders in the world when they’d felt that kind of power pouring through them. It makes her shudder.

Lord Zuko collects their teacups and sets it all aside on the small tray it came on. He dusts off his robes and Korra quickly gets to her feet to assist him up. He smiles gratefully at her before nodding back towards their tilled patch of earth.

“Shall we continue?” He asks.

They return to the patch of garden-to-be and Lord Zuko tips more seeds into her hand.

“I forgot to ask earlier, but what are we planting?” Korra asks as they set to planting once again.

Lord Zuko looks up at her.

“Oh, these are seeds for some vegetables and herbs. They’re kinds that help restore the soil and in a few weeks the seedlings will be shipped to lands where the harvest has been hard on the land.”

Korra smiles down at the little seeds in her palm.

They work quietly together as the red slowly fades from the sky and leaves only the usual calming darkness of the night sky behind in it’s wake.

**Author's Note:**

> The plants mentioned would be fenugreek, snow peas, snap peas, and while not mentioned, one plot is rooibos bushes. ;)


End file.
